Renowned Brantford theatre announces student-friendly season

Bored Laurier Brantford students with empty weekend agendas can start filling up their Friday and Saturday nights starting this October. The Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts, located in the heart of downtown Brantford, has announced its 2010-2011 season and it features several shows sure to bring out the student crowds.

The new season kicks off with Chantal Kreviazuk on Thursday October 14, followed closely by the Trailer Park Boys’ “Drunk, High and Unemployed Tour” taking the stage two days later for what’s sure to be a rowdy evening. Other shows that may catch the interest of students include: the fast-paced holiday themed theatrical production of Bowfire on December 16; Classic Albums Live presenting their “note for note, cut for cut” rendition of Michael Jackson’s Thriller album; a comedy musical from Second City called “Stephen Harper” presented on February 27; a sure-to-be spellbinding performance from the Peking Acrobats on March 16; and a second show from Classic Albums Live, this time presenting Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. In total, the Sanderson Centre stage will see nearly 40 performances, starting in October and wrapping up next May.

To sweeten the deal for students, the Sanderson Centre is introducing a new promotion to help cash-strapped students. uGo makes the arts more affordable by reducing ticket prices to $20 for any post-secondary student who presents valid student ID. The special student price is only applicable to a set number of tickets per show and only applies to Sanderson Centre shows, not rentals (for instance, the Trailer Park Boys show is a rental and the regular ticket price of $48.75 applies). Call ahead for details before booking your uGo tickets.

The Sanderson Centre is expecting 2010-2011 to be an even busier season than their last, which had the stage hosting and presenting nearly 200 events and the theatre welcoming an estimated 95,000 patrons to ticketed and non-ticketed events throughout the year. Tickets for the new season went on sale June 2.

To preserve this landmark, the Capitol was purchased by the City of Brantford in 1986 for $425,000 and in the restoration work that followed, the theatre was renamed the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts. A massive local fundraising effort was undertaken and successfully raised enough funds to perform the major reconstructive work needed to re-open the theatre. Today the Sanderson Centre caters is in full operation and puts on dozens of shows each year that cater to a wide variety of audiences.

For more information and to book your tickets online, visit www.sandersoncentre.ca.